The Top 5 Wine-Consuming Countries in the World Per Capita

Sure, if you look at the California Wine Institute list of top wine consuming countries in the world it may come up with the usual suspects: France, Italy, and the United States. But if you organize that list by wine consumption per person, there are some very surprising results. Countries like Slovenia and Croatia top the list, whereas Italy doesn't even make the top 10.

Click Here to see The Top 10 Wine-Consuming Countries in the World Per Capita

"There is no Sunday family lunch complete without a good typical Slovenian beef soup and a unique Slovenian wine," Nataša Slak Valek, from the Slovenian tourist board told The Daily Meal. "That which is made with love, effort, natural resources and knowledge has a greater possibility to succeed. Slovenian wines combine all of the above."

The per capita wine consumption list proves that just because your country or municipality has a population smaller than most rural American towns, it doesn't mean that emptying your wine bottle is any less important.

"It is rather interesting that our little island consistently takes out a top placement in the wine consumption of the world," Meliame Plant, the Operations Manager at Norfolk Island, where the population barely rounds out 2,000, told The Daily Meal. "Our economy is reliant on tourism and our visitors enjoy their wine whilst on holiday, hence our consumption per capita is always very high."

Keep in mind that consumption doesn't necessarily mean drinking of wine, and that some of the included countries could be common trading ports.

-Joanna Fantozzi, The Daily Meal

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